NJ Realtors® Legal Affairs Committee

NEW JERSEY REALTORS® LEGAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE PURPOSE OF THE COMMITTEE The purpose of the Committee is to review all requests for legal assistance from individual REALTORS® and REALTOR® Associations/Boards, and to recommend appropriate action on such requests to the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors of the New Jersey REALTORS®. The Committee’s basic area of interest is with legal matters which generally affect the rights of all REALTORS®, or the real estate industry in general, rather than matters with parochial or limited affect. In order to properly serve the interests of REALTORS®, it is essential that the Committee is advised of potential threats to REALTORS®’ rights at the earliest moment. Experience has shown that any delay in reporting cases to the Committee usually prejudices New Jersey REALTORS®’ opportunity to effectively participate in the protection of REALTORS®’ rights. Accordingly, the Committee is unlikely to recommend New Jersey REALTORS® involvement in cases where it determines that the delay in reporting an action has been prejudicial. Moreover, it is preferable that prior to making a request for assistance, the applicant for Legal Action assistance should procure a recommendation from his or her local Association/ Board of REALTORS®. Assistance is granted on a case-by-case basis on terms and conditions by the Committee, recommended to the Executive Committee and approved by the Board of Directors. Assistance may be in the form of legal advice from New Jersey REALTORS® Counsel, intervention by the New Jersey REALTORS® in litigation, or by financial contributions or loans from Legal Action funds to assist the applicant. BACKGROUND New Jersey REALTORS®’ policy of legal assistance was adopted in 1967 and was the first in the nation on a state level. In 1975, President John D. Cotney, Jr., appointed a Legal Aid Review Committee to assess the operation of the policy and develop recommendations for improvement. The Review Committee concluded that procedures for obtaining legal assistance were cumbersome and should be simplified to enable the New Jersey REALTORS® to learn about cases of class importance in the early stages. The Review Committee concluded also that depleting New Jersey REALTORS®’ current account to provide legal assistance was not good business practice. Accordingly, they recommended that the legal assistance program be financed by imposing a special $10 assessment on all REALTOR® members and a $4 assessment on all REALTOR-ASSOCIATE® members. Monies so raised to be administered as a trust fund.